Xi Jinping’s leadership and China’s global trade ambition

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was at the core of the Obama administration’s ‘pivot to Asia’. It included 12 countries, covered 40 per cent of the global economy and took seven years to negotiate. However, following President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he will leave the TPP upon assuming his presidency, its future is uncertain. China was not included in the deal therefore the US retreat has been seen by many as being in China’s strategic interest

At the APEC Summit in Peru in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed China’s alternate vision for regional trade by promoting the Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Delegates at the summit said that China would take the lead on strengthening world trade if the United States made a pivot towards protectionism.

Xi Jinping has begun to reinforce his position as party chief ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, which will be held in autumn 2017. This twice-a-decade party congress is, at its heart, a leadership transition event, based on the understanding that only leaders aged 67 or younger can ascend to or remain in top posts, while those 68 or older must retire when the party changes guard every five years. How is Xi’s leadership shaping China and its global trade ambitions?

Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, will discuss Xi’s political agenda over the next year in the light of the party congress in 2017, as well as the election of Donald Trump.

This is an invitation only event. To register your interest, please contact Conor Paterson in the Business & Policy Team conor.paterson@asiahouse.co.uk or call 0207 307 5439.

From 2012 to 2015 Kerry Brown was Professor of Chinese Politics and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia. Prior to this he worked at Chatham House as Senior Fellow and then Head of the Asia Programme, at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing, and as Head of the Indonesia, Philippine and East Timor Section. He lived in the Inner Mongolia region of China from 1994 to 1996. He has a Master of Arts from Cambridge University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Mandarin Chinese (Distinction) from Thames Valley University, London, and a PhD in Chinese politics and language from Leeds University.

Professor Brown directed the Europe China Research and Advice Network (ECRAN) giving policy advice to the European External Action Service between 2011 and 2014. He is the author of over 10 books on modern Chinese politics, history and language, the most recent of which are The New Emperors: Power and the Princelings in China (2014), What’s Wrong with Diplomacy: The Case of the UK and China (2015) and the Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography (in Four Volumes- 2014-2015). His China’s CEO: Xi Jinping was published in 2016.